973«7L63    Bryan,  William  Jennings 

GB8Um         Memory  of  President  Lincoln. 


LINCOLN  ROOM 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS 
LIBRARY 


MASTERFUL  TRIBUTES 

TO  THE 

Memory  of  President  Lincoln 

BY  HON  WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN 

AND 

The  Volunteer  Soldier 

BY  HON.  JOHN  M.  THURSTON 


DELIVERED   AT  THE  COLUMBIA  THEATER 

WASHINGTON,    D.    C. 

ON   THE    EVENING   OF  APRIL   14,  1901 

(42d  Anniversary  of  Mr.  Lincoln  s  Assassination) 

UNDER    THE    AUSPICES    AND    FOR    THE    BENEFIT    OF    THE 

3Funft  nf  Encampment  Nn.  111.  Union  Brteran  iCruum 

COPYRIGHT  APPLIED   FOR  PRICE,      10     CENTS 

BENSON   &  GIBBS,   Publishers 

210-11    Munsey  Building 

Washington.  D.  C. 


"With  malice  toward  none,  with  charity  for  all." 


An   Evening  with  Abraham   Lincoln 


AT 

COLUMBIA    THEATER 

Washington.    D.    C. 

Forty-second  Anniversary  of  the  Death  of  Abraham  Lincoln 
SUNDAY,  APRIL  14.  1907.  AT  8  P.  M. 

Under  the  auspices  of 
Union  Veteran   Legion   Encampment,   No.   TIT 

COMMITTEE 

GKORGE    S.   BENSON.   Chairman 

HORACE  H.    BROWKR.  Secretary  OLIVER    P.   HALLAM.Treasiuer 

OLIVER  SHAW  FRED   R-  SPARKS 


Copyright  J907 
BENSON  &  GIBBS. 


GB 


Program 


1.  INVOCATION Rev.  H.  N.  Couden 

Chaplain  House  of  Representatives 

2.  INTRODUCTION  OF  PERMANENT  CHAIRMAN  .  Col.  F.  H.  Hartley 

Com.  Encampment  No.  HI,  U.  V.  L. 

r 

3.  ADDRESS  BY  PERMANENT  CHAIRMAN Gen.  John  C.  Black 

Past  Com.-in-Chief  G.  A.  R. 

5 

4.  PATRIOTIC  MEDLEY I3th  U.  S.  Cavalry  Band 

iQ 

5.  READING Col.  John  Tweedale,  U.  S.  A. 

^ 

/X£ 

6.  SONG Prof.  Jasper  Dean  McFall  and  Miss  McFall 

7.  ADDRESS,  "The  Volunteer  Soldier" . .  Hon.  John  M.  Thurston 

8.  Music,  "Departed  Days"  Band 

9.  ADDRESS,  "Lincoln" Hon.  William  Jennings  Bryan 

10.  AMERICA Band  and  Audience 

H.  BENEDICTION Rev.  D.  J.  Stafford,  D.D. 


An  Evening  with  Abraham  Lincoln 

AT 

Columbia  Theater,  Washington,  D.  C.,  April   14,  1907 

1.  INVOCATION  Rev.  H.  M.  Couden 

Chaplain  House  of  Representatives 

2.  INTRODUCTION  OF  PERMANENT  CHAIRMAN. Col.  F.  H.  Hartley 

Com.  Encampment  No.  in,  U.  V.  L. 

3.  ADDRESS  BY  PERMANENT  CHAIRMAN Gen.  John  C.  Black 

Past  Com.-in-chief,  G.  A.  R. 

COMRADES  AND  FELLOW  CITIZENS: 

A  generation  ago — forty-two  years — and  within  hail  of  the 
place  where  this  great  audience  is  assembled,  Abraham  Lincoln, 
by  the  hand  of  an  insane  murderer,  was  lifted  from  the  ranks  of 
strife  to  the  place  of  eternal  peace.  For  him  "to  die  was  gain ;" 
he  \\^s  at  the  end  of  a  great  strife  where  hard  Fate  had  made  him 
the  nation's  leader.  He  was  saved  by  that  death  from  all  the 
perplexities  and  troubles  of  an  unchartered  future,  all  the  experi- 
ments and  all  the  failures  interfering  with  a  fame  absolutely 
secure  by  human  standards.  He  passed  from  the  heights  of  vic- 
tory, hardly  upward,  but  rather  onward  to  the  place  of  glory. 
And  it  is  well  that  here  where  he  fell,  by  the  capitol  of  the  nation, 
that  this  assemblage,  gathered  from  all  the  land  and  from  every 
degree  of  citizenship,  should  meet  and  mingle  their  sacred  recol- 
lections and  praises  before  the  fame  of  a  foremost  American. 
And  it  is  well  that  the  anniversary  should  have  fallen  on  this  day, 
ordinarily  held  sacred  to  the  worship  of  the  Lord,  God  of  Hosts. 
Our  services  in  memory  of  Lincoln  on  this  day  can  neither  set  the 
pulse  of  animosity  anywhere  beating  in  an  American  breast,  nor 
can  it  be  anything  but  acceptable  on  this  day ;  for  over  and  over 
again  during  that  tumultuous  time,  when  the  sun  was  hidden  in 
the  American  heaven,  and  all  the  passions  from  the  nether  world 
seemed  loosed  upon  the  surface  of  our  sorrowing  earth,  and  when 
the  tears  of  a  mighty  people  fell  ceaselessly  for  the  brave  and  the 
true,  and  when  it  seemed  as  though  Providence  had  deserted  the 
cause,  then  the  voice  of  this  untutored  woodsman  rings  through 
the  land,  calling  the  people  again  and  again  to  the  worship  and  to 


thanksgiving  to  the  God  and  ftie  Father.  And  in  the  wreck  and 
welter  of  war,  when  olden  institutions  seemed  to  be  lost  to  sight, 
his  was  the  voice  that  said  to  the  thunder  of  guns  and  the  shout- 
ings of  captains,  "On  the  day  of  the  Lord,  ye  shall  be  still."  And 
from  Moses  until  now  no  man  has  so  strongly  spoken  for  the  Sab- 
bath as  Lincoln  when  he  ordered  that  cessation  of  strife  should, 
whenever  possible,  occur  on  that  day.  And  do  you  doubt,  my  fel- 
low-citizens, that  in  through  the  ranks  of  the  armies,  those  of 
the  gray  as  well  as  those  of  the  blue,  that  this  reverence  of  the 
Great  President  for  the  sacred  hour  of  childhood's  recollections 
had  a 'mighty  influence?  So  it  is  well  that  on  the  Sabbath,  forty- 
two  years  from  the  time  when  he  laid  down  his  burden,  that  a 
great,  reunited  people  should  honor  his  memory.  But  my  duty  is 
not  to  address  you,  but  simply  to  guide  your  meeting.  Those  who 
are  to  come  after  me  will  tell  you  of  this  wondrous  light.  In  be- 
half of  these,  my  comrades,  I  welcome  you  to  this  great  and,  I 
hope,  holy  occasion. 

4.  PATRIOTIC  MEDLEY I3th  U.  S.  Cavalry  Band 

5.  READING Col.  John  Tweedale,  U.  S.  A. 

O,  CAPTAIN!  MY  CAPTAIN! 

BY    WALT   WHITMAN 
I 

O,  Captain  !   My  Captain !   our  fearful  trip  is  done ; 
The  ship  has  weather'd  every  wrack,  the  prize  we  sought  is  won ; 
The  port  is  near,  the  bells  I  hear,  the  people  all  exulting, 
While  follow  eyes  the  steady  keel,  the  vessel  firm  and  daring ; 
But  O  heart !  heart !  heart ! 

O  the  bleeding  drops  of  red, 
Where  on  the  dejck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen,  cold  and  dead. 

II 

O  Captain !  My  Captain !  rise  up  and  hear  the  bells ; 

Rise  up — for  you  the  flag  is  flung — for  you  the  bugle  trills ; 

For  you  bouquets    and    ribbon'd    wreaths — for    you    the    shores 

a-crowding ; 

For  you  they  call,  the  swaying  mass,  their  eager  faces  turning ; 
•Here  Captain !    Dear  Father ! 

This  arm  beneath  your  head ; 
It  is  some  dream  that  on  the  deck, 
You've  fallen  cold  and  dead. 


Ill 

My  Captain  does  not  answer,  his  lips  are  pale  and  still; 
My  father  does  not  feel  my  arm,  he  has  no  pulse  nor  will ; 
The  ship  is  anchor'd  safe  and  sound,  it's  voyage  closed  and  done ; 
From  fearful  trip,  the  victor  ship,  comes  in  with  object  won; 
Exult,  O  shores,  arid  ring  O  bells ! 

But  I,  with  mournful  tread, 
Walk  the  deck  my  Captain  lies, 
Fallen,  cold  and  dead. 

(First  published  in  "When  Lilacs  Last  in  the  Dooryard 
Bloom'd,"  1865-6.) 

6.  SONG Prof.  Jasper  Dean  McFall  and  Miss  McFall 

7.  ADDRESS,  "The  Volunteer  Soldier".  ..Hon.  John  M.  Thurston 

THE  CHAIRMAN  :  Fellow  citizens,  one  of  the  most  beautiful 
stories  of  ancient  history  is  the  story  of  Castor  and  Pollux,  and 
how  in  all  the  extremeties  of  the  great  Roman  world  these  two 
twins  *  *  saved  the  day.  The  state  of  Nebraska  has  fur- 

nished the  two  orators  for  this  occasion.  There  have  been  times 
I  know  when  Nebraska  would  have  been  satisfied  with  either  or 
both  in  the  \\£hite  House. 

The  first  is  one  whose  father  was  in  the  war  of  the  Rebel- 
lion, and  died  in  battle,  leaving  to  his  son  the  highest  gift  that 
valor  and  patriotism  can  bestow  upon  a  child.  Of  the  American 
Volunteer  Soldier  that  gentleman  is  to-night  to  speak,  and  I  pre- 
sent to  you  the  famed  Senator  Thurston,  now  of  this  city. 


HON.    JOHN    M.   THURSTON 


John  Mellen  Thurston,  Republican,  of  Omaha,  was  born 
at  Montpelier,  Vt.,  August  21,  1847.  His  ancestors  were  Puritans; 
their  settlement  in  this  country  dates  back  to  1636;  his  grand- 
father Mellen  and  great-grandfather  Thurston  were  both  soldiers 
in  the  Revolutionary  War;  his  parents  removed  to  Wisconsin  in 
1854;  his  father  was  a  private  soldier  in  the  First  Wisconsin  Cav- 
alry, and  died  in  the  service  in  the  spring  of  1863 ;  was  educated 
in  the  public  schools  and  at  Wayland  University,  Beaver  Dam, 
Wis.,  supporting  himself  by  farm  work,  driving  teams,  and  other 
manual  labor ;  was  admitted  to  the  bar  May  21,  1869,  and  in  Octo- 
ber of  the  same  year  located  in  Omaha,  his  legal  residence  being 
there ;  was  elected  a  member  of  the  city  council  in  1872,  city  attor- 
ney of  Omaha  in  1874,  and  a  member  of  the  Nebraska  legislature 
in  1875 ;  was  a  member  of  the  Republican  National  Convention  in 
1884,  and  temporary  chairman  of  the  Republican  National  Con- 
vention in  1888;  was  president  of  the  Republican  League  of  the 
United  States,  1889  to  1891 ;  was  selected  as  permanent  chairman 
of  the  Republican  National  Convention  held  in  the  city  of  St. 
Louis,  June  16,  17,  and  18,  1896,  which  nominated  Maj.  William 
McKinley,  of  Ohio,  for  President ;  in  1877  he  became  assistant 
attorney  of  the  Union  Pacific  Railway  Company,  and  in  February, 
1888,  was  appointed  general  solicitor  of  the  Union  Pacific  system, 
and  held  that  position  at  the  time  of  his  election  to  the  United 
States  Senate,  was  the  Republican  caucus  nominee  for  United 
States  Senator  in  the  Nebraska  legislature  in  January,  1893,  and 
received  the  entire  party  vote,  lacking  five  votes  of  election ; 
January  i,  1895,  was  tendered  in  writing  the  unanimous  vote  of 
the  entire  Republican  membership  in  the  legislature,  and  was 
elected  January  15,  1895,  for  the  term  commencing  March  4,  1895. 
Senator  Thurston  is  one  of  the  most  prominent  lawyers  of 
Washington,  and  has  offices  in  the  Bond  Building. 


SENATOR  THURSTON: 

Comrades  of  the  Grand  Army,  Ladies,  and  Gentlemen — 
Forty-two  years  ago  there  passed  into  history  the  simplest,  sweet- 
est, strongest,  serenest,  sublimest  character  of  the  age.  The  life 
of  that  man,  as  we  review  it,  is  a  constant  incentive  to  American 
youth.  Born  of  the  humblest  parentage,  struggling  upward 
through  a  youth  of  toil,  without  assistance  except  as  he  compelled 
the  respect  and  admiration  of  men,  he  was  one  day  to  be  the  Chief 
Executive  of  this  nation  in  the  greatest  crisis  of  our  country's 
history.  This  opportunity  for  American  youths  is  our  proudest 
boast.  They  had  it  in  the  time  of  Abraham  Lincoln,  they  had  it 
in  the  time  of  James  A.  Garfield,  they  had  it  in  the  time  of  Wil- 
liam McKinley,  and  they  have  it  to-day.  In  spite  of  the  accumu- 
lation of  wealth  in  the  hands  of  the  few,  in  spite  of  the  power  of 
great  organizations,  these  truths  of  American  conditions  remain 
to-day  that  there  is  no  road  to  wealth  or  fame  or  glory  in  this  re- 
public that  is  not  open  alike  to  every  American  child.  On  the 
broad  highway  of  American  opportunity  the  barefoot  boy  out- 
strips the  golden  chariot  of  ancestorial  wealth,  and  every  mother 
in  this  broad  land,  as  she  hushes  the  weak  protest  of  the  baby's 
voice  upon  her  holy  breast,  knows  that  her  boy  may  live  to  become 
the  President  of  the  Republic.  (Applause.) 

Who  can  study  the  life  of  Abraham  Lincoln  without  being 
confirmed  in  the  belief  of  an  overruling  power  that  guides  the 
destiny  of  nations  and  of  men  ?  Who  can  doubt  that  in  the  time  of 
our  great  trial  there  was  a  power  over  and  above  that  of  man  that 
selected  a  fitting  leader  to  accomplish  a  great  purpose.  In  ordi- 
nary times,  as  we  study  human  history,  Providence  seems  to  leave 
man  to  work  out  their  own  salvation  by  struggle  and  travail,  pick- 
ing their  way  onward  and  upward  if  they  can,  but  in  every  great 
crisis,  when  some  supreme  question  has  to  be  settled,  or  the  wel- 
fare of  mankind  is  hanging  in  the  balance,  God's  finger  has 
pointed  the  way  and  the  man  of  Providence  has  been  found.  Who 
can  doubt  that  this  continent  of  ours  has  been  under  the  special 
care  of  an  overruling  Providence?  It  kept  it  through  all  the  cen- 
turies when  the  people  of  the  other  world  were  working  their  way 
onward  and  upward,  until  in  the  fullness  of  time  they  had  become 
strong  enough,  brave  enough,  and  able  enough  to  take  up  the 
problem  of  a  people's  government  in  the  new  world,  to  set  an  ex- 
ample to  all, the  other  nations  of  the  earth  that  they  might  follow. 
Who  can  doubt  that  this  Providence  put  into  the  quickened  mind 
of  the  humble  Genoese  sailor  the  idea  of  a  round  world,  softened 
the  heart  of  Queen  Isabella  until  the  jewels  of  her  crown  became 
the  price  of  the  fleet  that  sailed  into  the  unknown  seas ;  stood  at 
helm  and  guided  the  ships  aright,  and  when  they  landed  on  the 
unknown  strand,  raised  above  them  the  great  white  cross  of  a 
Savior's  love,  the  emblem  of  immortal  hope. 


But  I  am  here  to-night,  my  countrymen,  to  speak  for  a  little 
time  of  the  Volunteer  Soldier.  Sometimes,  in  passing  along  the 
street,  I  meet  a  man  who,  in  the  left  lapel  of  his  coat,  wears  a 
little,  plain,  modest,  unassuming,  bronze  button.  The  coat  is  often 
worn  and  rusty;  the  face  above  seamed  and  furrowed  by  toil  and 
suffering  of  adverse  years ;  perhaps,  beside  it,  hangs  an  empty 
sleeve,  or  below  it  stumps  a  wooden  peg,  but  when  I  meet  the 
man  who  wears  that  button  I  doff  my  hat  and  stand  uncovered  in 
his  presence. 

Yea,  to  me  the  very  dust  his  weary  foot  has  pressed  is  holy 
ground,  for  I  know  that  man,  in  the  dark  hour  of  the  nation's 
peril,  bared  his  breast  to  the  "hell  of  battle"  to  keep  the  flag  of 
our  country  in  the  Union  sky.  Maybe,  at  Donnellson,  he  reached 
the  inner  trench,  at  Shiloh  held  the  broken  line,  at  Chattanooga 
climbed  the  flame-swept  hill,  or  stormed  the  clouds  on  Lookout 
Heights.  He  was  not  born  or  bred  to  soldier  life ;  his  country's 
"summons  called  him  from  the  plow,  the  forge,  the  loom,  the  mine, 
the  forest,  the  shop,  the  factory,  the  store,  the  school;  yea,  the 
sanctuary.  He  did  not  fight  for  greed  of  gold,  to  woo  ambition, 
or  to  win  renown.  He  loved  the  peace  of  quiet  ways,  and  yet  he 
broke  the  clasp  of  clinging  arms,  turned  from  the  witching  glance 
of  tender  eyes,  left  good-bye  kisses  upon  tiny  lips,  to  look  death 
in  the  face  on  desperate  fields.  And,  when  the  war  was  over,  he 
quietly  took  up  the  broken  threads  of  love  and  life  as  best  he 
could ;  the  better  citizen  for  having  been  so  good  a  soldier. 

The  world  honors  the  Volunteer  Soldiers  of  the  United  States. 
Not  so  much  because  they  were  brave,  for  all  soldiers  have  been 
brave  since  the  beginning  of  time.  Soldiers  have  fought  just  as 
valiantly  under  the  banner  of  despots,  aye  and  for  the  enslavement 
of  their  fellow-beings,  as  they  have  fought  under  the  banner  of 
the  free.  Bravery  is  inherent  in  the  human  race.  I  might  say  we 
honor  them  because  they  were  brave,  and  we  do.  Yet  this  is  not 
the  chief  thing  for  which  we  bow  our  heads  in  reverence  to  them. 
We  honor  them  because  they  fought  for  the  principles  that  they 
believed  in  their  souls  to  be  right,  that  they  believed  in  it  so 
strongly  that  the  call  to  arms  took  them  from  home  without  hesi- 
tation ;  the  call  to  arms  took  them  from  business  life  with- 
out hesitation ;  the  call  to  arms  took  them  into  the  field,  leaving 
behind  them  the  best  years  of  opportunity  and  endeavor,  to  fight 
and  contend  for  what  they  held  in  their  souls  to  be  the  living 
truth.  And  when  I  say  this,  my  countrymen,  I  speak  as  well  for 
the  soldiers  of  the  South  as  of  the  North.  (Applause.) 

Up  to  the  time  of  Abraham  Lincoln  the  world  had  stood 
sponsor  for  human  slavery.  All  nations  held  weaker  men  in 
bondage,  and  the  time  came  when  it  was  necessary  that  the  world 
should  break  this  great  oppressive  band  that  held  it  to  the  Jug- 
gernaught  of  human  slavery.  The  American  people  had  to  break 


it.  We  had  on  our  continent  two  sections  and  two  peoples,  all  ot 
the  same  blood,  all  of  the  same  valorous  and  liberty-loving  stock ; 
one  of  these  peoples  had  inherited  as  a  legacy  human  slavery,  and 
"the  other  had  not,  and  it  was  inevitable  in  the  fullness  of  time  that 
this  great  question  had  to  be  met  and  had  to  be  finally  settled  by 
the  arbitrament  of  war.  And  on  either  side  of  that  great  conten- 
tion men  rushed  to  battle,  profoundly  impressed  with  the  idea 
that  they  were  fighting  for  their  rights ;  that  they  were  fighting 
for  their  native  land ;  that  they  were  fighting  for  their  homes  and 
their  own  institutions.  And  when  the  war  was  over,  when  it  had 
ended  as  Providence  alone  would  have  had  it  end,  these  two  peo- 
ples came  together  once  more  in  loving  reconcilliation,  in  a  united 
loyalty  to  American  institutions,  that  will  make  us  the  grandest 
people  of  all  the  earth  in  the  years  to  come.  (Applause.) 

The  Blue  and  the  Gray  lie  in  eternal  slumber  side  by  side. 
Heroes,  all,  they  fell  face  to  face,  brother  against  brother,  to  ex- 
piate memory  of  the  loved,  the  yearning  for  the  lost,  are  past  re- 
call; but  through  the  mingled  tears  that  fall  alike  upon  the  hon- 
ored dead  of  both,  the  North  and  South  turn  hopeful  ,eyes  to  that . 
new  future  of  prosperity  and  power,  possible  only  in  the  shelter 
of  the  dear  old  flag.  To  the  North  and  the  South,  to  the  White 
man  and  the  Black,  to  the  master  and  the  slave,  to  civilization 
and  to  the  world,  your  victories  were  God's  Providence. 
(Applause.) 

These  are  not  fighting  times,  in  which  we  come  to  speak  of 
the  Volunteer  Soldiers  of  the  United  States,  and  we  are  not  a 
warlike  people.  Every  instinct  of  the  American  is  for  peace. 
Every  effort  of  American  diplomacy  and  statesmanship  has  al- 
ways been  exerted  for  peace,  and  always  will  be.  We  have  never 
as  a  nation  fought  for  conquest  or  dominion ;  we  have  never 
fought  except  fo'r  holy  and  sacred  purposes.  Five  times  only  in  a 
century  and  a  third  have  the  American  people  taken  up  the'gage 
of  battle ;  first  for  independence,  that  the  colonists  might  have 
the  right  to  govern  themselves  in  that  land  they  had  made  and 
settled ;  to  believe  and  worship  according  to  the  dictates  of  their 
own  consciences,  and  for  the  fight  to  a  government  for  themselves 
in  which  the  voice  of  the  majority  might  control ;  second,  in  1812, 
to  establish  the  rights  of  American  sailors  upon  the  high  sea  and 
to  make  the  deck  of  an  American  ship  American  soil ;  third,  in 
1847,  that  the  little  republic  of  Texas  might  have  the  right  to 
her  own  free  will  to  set  her  single  star  a-shining  in  the  galaxy  of 
the  national  flag;  and  again,  in  1861,  when  we  fought  to  preserve 
a  union  that  was  necessary  to  the  salvation  and  advancement  of  the 
western  world ;  and  once  again,  and  last,  in  1898,  that  the  power 
of  a  great  and  free  people  might  go  out  like  the  blessing  of  God 
to  our  neighbors  across  the  sea  who  could  not  help  themselves, 


10 


and  lift  them  up  into  the  sunlight  of  liberty  and  self-government 
and  prosperity. 

After  each  one  of  these  great  wars  our  soldiers  have  returned 
to  their  homes,  .not  overboastful  of  their  achievements.;  not  to 
live  upon  the  splendor  of  what  they  had  done  in  war,  but  to  quietly 
take  up  the  responsibilities  of  private  and  public  life  where  they 
had  left  them,  and  to  become  a  part,  and  one  of  the  best  parts, 
of  the  common  citizenship  of  the  United  States.  What  splendid 
citizens  these  volunteer  soldiers  of  ours  became  when  they  laid 
down  their  arms !  In  every  community  from  sea  to  sea,  from 
lakes  to  gulf,  they  have  been  leaders  for  law  and  order  and 
peace  and  good  government.  They  have  been  business  men  re- 
nowned for  their  honesty  and  intelligence;  and  in  every  walk  of 
life  much  as  the  volunteer  soldier  has  been  honored  for  deeds  of 
war  he  is  honored  by  the  American  people  for  the  later  achieve- 
ments in  all  these  later  years  in  the  affairs  of  peace.  It  was 
fortunate,  my  countrymen,  that  after  this  great  war  in  which 
these  men  fought  there  should  come  another  experience  which 
would  blot  and  wipe  out  all  that  remained,  or  that  possibly  could 
remain,  of  any  bitterness  or  sectional  feeling.  While  we  spent 
millions  of  money  and  shed  much  blood  in  the  war  to  set  Cuba 
free,  if  we  had  never  received  and  never  will  receive  anything  else 
to  show  for  it,  we  have  received  more  than  enough.  In  that  war, 
brief  as  it  was,  allowing  the  patriotic  youth  of  the  whole  coun- 
try to  gather  under  the  same  flag,  wearing  the  same  uniform, 
elbows  touching  elbows,  the  men  and  the  sons  of  men  who  fought 
against  each  other  in  the  years  gone  by,  the  last  lingering  trace 
of  regret  and  bitterness  because  of  the  war  of  the  rebellion  was 
eliminated  from  the  thoughts  of  the  people,  north  and  south.  It 
did  more  than  this :  it  made  our  flag  beloved,  not  only  of  the  lips 
but  of  the  heart  of  every  American  man,  woman,  and  child  in  all 
this  great  land.  (Applause.)  I  am  not  here  to-night  to  exploit 
to  any  extent  the  accomplishments  of  the  American  citizen  sol- 
diers. They  are  rapidly  passing  away.  The  roll-call  will  soon 
receive  no  answer.  And  for  this  reason,  perhaps  more  than  any 
other,  I  love  to  see  the  people  come  together  and  pay  their  tribute 
of  respect  as  you  are  paying  it  to-night  for  what  they  did  for  us. 
They  made  it  possible  for  us  to  have  a  country  that  will  endure. 
If  they  had  not  won  the  victory  under  Abraham  Lincoln  we  would 
have  had  on  this  continent  two  rival  powers,  two  republics,  neither 
of  them  strong  enough  of  itself  to  withstand  the  oppression  of 
other  great  powers  of  the  world.  And  it  is  almost  certain  that 
there  would  have  come  a  time  when  the  prediction  of  the  despotic 
rulers  of  the  old  world  would  have  come  true,  when  they  said  that 
the  Ame'rican  republic  could  not  continue  to  exist,  that  it  would 
fall  to  pieces  of  internal  dissention,  and  the  time  would  come 
when  anarchy  would  take  its  place.  But  not  with  a  united  people, 


ii 


with  our  land  free  from  ocean  to  ocean,  with  our  national  advan- 
tage, our  great  wealth,  our  wonderful  possibilities,  the  time  will 
never  come  when  any  one  nation  or  any  combination  of  nations 
will  dare  to  turn  against  the  flag  of  the  United  States. 
(Applause.)  Men  and  governments  pass  away,  but  the  glory 
of  great  deeds  lives  on  forever.  Rome,  that  sat  on  her  eternal 
hills  and  from  her  throne  of  beauty  ruled  the  world,  has  crum- 
bled into  ruin  and  decay.  Her  fleets,  her  conquering  legions, 
her  temples,  palaces,  and  triumphal  arches  sleep,  almost  forgot- 
ten in  the  dust  of  ages.  Her  power  is  gone ;  her  nationality  van- 
ished ;  her  very  language  dead,  misspoken  of  mankind ;  but  the 
name  of  her  Caesar  is  as  great  to-day  as  when  Rome  was  at  the 
zenith  of  her  power,  when  her  fleets  sailed  into  every  sea,  and 
her  legions  sought  in  vain  new  fields  of  conquest.  Napoleon, 
whose  military  genius  dominated  all  Europe,  for  himself  and  his, 
the  most  wonderful  empire  of  modern  times,  whose  word  made 
and  unmade  crowns  and  thrones,  whose  victorious  armies  bore 
the  eagles  of  France  in  triumph  from  Madrid  to  Moscow,  died 
in  exile  upon  a  lonely  island  of  the  ocean ;  but  the  glorious 
achievements  of  the  little  corporal,  side  by  side  with  those  of 
imperial  Ceasar  will  inspire  the  hearts  of  the  youths  of  every 
land  to  deeds  of  valor  in  generations  yet  to  come.  It  has  been 
said  that  as  the  victories  of  Caesar  were  to  Rome  and  those -of 
Napoleon  to  France,  so  were  yours  to  the  United  States.  They 
were  this,  but  they  were  more,  for  Caesar,  having  no  more  worlds 
to  conquer,  turned  his  victorious  armies  against  the  liberty  of  his 
own  country.  Napoleon  devastated  Europe  that  he  might  place 
on  his  imperious  brow  the  crown  of  despotic  power.  Yon  won 
your  victories  for  liberty,  humanity,  and  country,  won  them  that 
an  enslaved  race  might  be  free ;  won  them  that  forever  and  for- 
ever from  the  Atlantic  to  the  Pacific,  there  should  be  an  imper- 
ishable union  of  states  sacred  to  brotherhood  of  man.  And  this 
republic — this  "government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for 
the  people,"  shall  not  perish  from  the  earth.  Our  institutions  will 
not  die.  The  American  spirit  that  was  breathed  into  the  people 
in  1861  will  see  to  it,  now  and  hereafter,  that  every  great  Ameri- 
can problem  is  settled  and  settled  right. 

And  after  all,  we  shall  turn  more  year  by  year  to  Abraham 
Lincoln  and  what  was  accomplished  under  his  great  leadership. 
On  Freedom's  scroll  of  honor  his  name  is  written  first.  The  col- 
lossal  statute  of  his  fame  stands  forever  on  the  pedestal  of  a  peo- 
ple's love.  About  it  are  the  upturned,  glorified  faces  of  an  eman- 
cipated race.  In  its  protecting  shadow  liberty,  equal  rights,  and 
justice  is  the  heritage  of  every  American  child. 

The  sunshine  of  approving  heaven  rests  upon  it  like  an  infinite 
benediction,  and  over  it  calmly  floats  the  unconquered  flag  of 
the  greatest  nation  on  the  earth.  (Applause.) 


8.  Music — Departed  Days.  .  .  ." Band 

9.  Address— "LINCOLN" Hon.  William  Jennings  Bryan 

THE  CHAIRM-AN  : 

Fellow  citizens,  it  is  most  becoming  that  a  soldier  should 
speak  of  him  who  wielded  the  sword  without  malice.  It  is  be- 
coming that  a  native  son  of  Illinois  should  speak  of  him  whose 
early  fame  is  very  dear  to  the  hearts  of  the  Illinoisan.  It  is  be- 
coming that  a  citizen  of  the  Union  should  speak  of  him  who  died 
that  it  might  live.  It  is  fitting  that  a  statesman  should  speak  of 
him  who  formulated  the  highest  ideals  of  the  American  Govern- 
ment, of  the  people  and  for  the  people  and  by  the  people.  It  is 
fitting  that  he  whose  benign  influence  to-day  is  like  a  heavenly 
light  in  every  nation  of  the  world,  standing  always  for  liberty, 
and  law,  and  union,  and  the  uplifting  of  mankind  should  be 
spoken  of  by  an  orator  whose  story  has  wakened  every  American 
human  heart  and  stirred  the  pulse  of  mankind.  I  present  to  you 
as  orator  for  the  occasion,  ladies  and  gentlemen,  Honorable 
William  Jennings  Bryan.  (Applause.) 


!3 


HON.   WILLIAM   JENNINGS  BRYAN 


Mr.  Bryan's  life  had  become  identified  to  such  an  extent  with 
the  history  of  his  country  that  a  biography  is  hardly  necessary. 
There  are,  nevertheless,  fortunately  a  rapidly  decreasing  number 
of  his  countrymen,  who,  however  well  they  may  know  the  events 
of  his  career,  do  not  seem  even  at  this  late  day  to  appreciate  his 
character.  Only  this  week  I  find  in  the  public  prints  copies  of  an 
editorial  ascribed  to  Henry  Watterson,  in  which,  among  many 
other  things,  he  says :  "Mr.  Bryan  has  enemies  of  his  own,  and 
these  are  neither  idle  nor  silent.  They  say  he  is  sacrificing  his 
party  to  his  lecture  business.  They  say  that  he  would  rather  be 
rich  than  be  President."  And  then  the  able  editor  of  the  Courier- 
Journal  continues  at  such  length  with  a  repetition  of  this  calumny 
that  he  lays  himself  open  to  the  suspicion  of  delighting  in  it.  But 
for  this  unfair  recital  of  alleged  abuse  of  Mr.  Bryan,  which  a  sin- 
cere friend  would  never  have  repeated,  I  would  not  now  give 
publicity  to  some  things  of  a  private  nature  that  passed  between 
Mr.  Bryan  and  myself.  I  do  this  without  his  consent,  because  I  do 
not  want  any  diffidence  I  know  he  would  feel  about  the  publication 
of  the  facts  I  will  set  forth  to  interfere  with  the  justice  that  is 
his  due. 

When  the  Union  Veteran  Legion,  Encampment  No.  in, 
asked  Mr.  Bryan  to  lecture  on  Lincoln,  we  determined  to  conduct 
the  affair  upon  business  principles,  and  therefore  offered  him 
$500  (five  hundred  dollars)  for  his  services.  I  still  cherish  the 
letter  from  Mr.  Bryan  in  reply,  in  which  he  says  that  he  "could 
not  think  of  accepting  money  for  such  a  speech,  and  that  if  he 
spoke  at  all  it  must  be  distinctly  understood  that  his  services 
would  be  free."  He  would  not  even  accept  his  expenses.  At  the 
time  of  this  correspondence  Mr.  Bryan's  engagements  were  so 
numerous  that  it  was  doubtful  if  he  could  favor  us.  However, 
with  great  inconvenience  to  himself,  he  came  to  Washington 
over  Sunday,  April  14,  and  in  the  afternoon  delivered  a  lecture  on 
"The  Prince  of  Peace,"  under  the  auspices  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A., 
in  the  National  Theater.  In  the  evening,  at  the  Columbia 
Theater,  he  delivered  the  following  lecture  on  "Lincoln."  This 
latter  addre/s  is  remarkable  because  it  was  purely  an  extempore 
address,  Mr.  Bryan  having  had  no  time  to  prepare  a  set  oration 
because  of  his  constant  duties  elsewhere.  I  have  since  learned 
from  close  friends  of  Mr.  Bryan,  that  he  never  will  accept  even  his 
expenses  from  anything  he  does  on  Sunday,  or  in  behalf  of 
patriotic  societies,  charitable  or  religious  institutions.  He  delivers, 
on  an  average,  two  addresses  every  Sunday,  and  is  constantly 
speaking  at  benefits  of  one  kind  or  other,  for  which  he  will  not 
accept  a  penny,  even  for  expenses. 

Of  course,  it  will  be  agreed  by  the  reader  of  the  following 
oration,  that  nothing  else  can  be  expected  of  the  orator  of  such 
a  eulogy. 

May  12,  1907.  GEORGE  S.  BENSON,  Chairman. 

15 


HON.  WILLIAM  JENNINGS  BRYAN  : 

Ladies  and  gentlemen:  I  am  glad  that  circumstances  were 
such  that  I  could  accept  the  invitation  extended  to  me  by  the 
Union  Veteran  Legion  to  participate  in  this  memorial  occasion. 
It  is  fitting  that  this  sad  anniversary  should  be  commemorated 
and  that  the  exercises  should  be  in  charge  of  those  who,  in  that 
great  crisis  in  our  nation's  history,  were  soldiers  in  an  army  of 
which  Abraham  Lincoln  was  commander-in-chief.  I  have  felt 
that  while  these  veterans  of  the  Civil  War  still  live  there  is  no  one 
nor  class  to  dispute  their  right  to  preeminence  in  all  such  occa- 
sions as  this,  My  military  service  was  so  brief  and  so  free  from 
the  dangers  that  these  incurred  that  I  do  not  count  myself  a  sol- 
dier, although  in  the  Spanish-American  War  my  offer  of  my 
services  was  dated  on  the  day  that  the  war  was  declared,  and  my 
resignation  was  made  on  the  day  that  the  treaty  was  signed.  So 
that  constructive  service  covered  all  the  real  war;  and  herein, 
my  friends,  I  realize  that  we  who  knew  only  the  camp  knew  noth- 
ing of  war.  I  bow  to  the  superiority  of  the  veterans,  who  were 
not  only  willing  to  fight  their  country's  battles  and  to  give  their 
lives  in  defense  of  the  flag,  but  who  had  an  opportunity  to  prove 
their  patriotism  by  long  and  painful  and  arduous  service. 

I  appreciate  the  very  kind  word  that  has  been  spoken  by 
General  Black.  He  violates  one  of  the  Bible  injunctions  when 
he  praises  me,  for  the  Bible  says  that  one  should  not  praise  the 
work  of  his  own  hands.  He  was  a  judge  in  one  of  my  first  ora- 
torial  contests,  and  he  not  only  marked  me  high,  but  he  did  more 
than  that — he  gave  me  advice  after  the  contest  that  I  have  always 
treasured,  for  I  believe  it  was  of  great  service  to  me.  I  am  glad, 
therefore,  that  on  this  occasion  he  should  be  the  president,  the 
chairman,  and  present  me  to  you,  even  if  his  words  are  more  gen- 
erous that  I  am  willing  to  admit  that  I  deserve. 

I  am  glad  to-night  to  speak  of  Abraham  Lincoln.  I  was  little 
more  than  five  years  of  age  when  the  tragic  death  converted  a 
nation's  joy  into  a  nation's  mourning,  but  I  had  scarcely  reached 
manhood's  estate  when  I  became  an  admirer  of  Abraham  Lincoln ; 
and  when  I  was  a  student  in  the  law  school  I  took  him»  as  my  sub- 
ject in  one  of  the  contests  which  I  entered,  and  the  more  I  have 
studied  him  the  larger  has  become  my  appreciation  of  him.  I 
am  glad  that  at  this  time  we  are  so  far  removed  from  the  preju- 
dice and  passion  engendered  by  a  strife  that  we  can  behold  him 
as  a  growing  figure  in  our  nation's  history,  and  that  in  the  appre- 
ciation of  him  all  sections  of  our  reunited  land  can  gladlv  join. 
On  this  occasion  I  desire  to  draw  a  few  lessons  from  life.  He 
was  one  of  the  great  orators  of  this  country.  I  believe  that  when 
the  history  of  our  public  speakers  is  written,  not  one  of  them  will 
stand  higher  than  Abraham  Lincoln.  He  lacked  the  polish  of 
schools  that  some  of  them  have ;  he  lacked  the  training  and  the 

16 


preparation  for  this  particular  work;  but  he  had  to  a  remarkable 
degree  the  essential  things  in  oratory.  And  that  he  was  an 
effective  speaker,  an  eloquent  speaker,  a  persuasive  speaker  there 
are  hundreds  in  this  audience  can  testify,  because  hundreds  heard 
him  speak.  When  I  was  a  student  in  college  a  speaker  explained 
to  us  the  difference  between  Demosthenes  and  Cicero.  He  said 
"When  Cicero  speaks  people  say  'How  well  Cicero  speaks!'  but 
when  Demosthenes  speaks  they  say  'Let  us  go  against  Phillip.'  " 
The  difference  being  that  one  impressed  himself  upon  the  audi- 
ence, the  other  impressed  his  subject;  one  left  the  audience  admir- 
ing the  speaker,  the  other  left  the  audience  intent  upon  carrying 
out  what  the  speaker  advised.  Lincoln  resembled  Demosthenes 
rather  than  Cicero,  for  people  forgot  the  speaker  in  the  earnest- 
ness with  which  they  listened  to  what  the  speaker  had  proposed. 
Lincoln  had  the  two  essential  things  of  the  fine  orator:  he  knew 
what  he  was  talking  about,  and  he  meant  what  he  said.  And 
those  are  the  things  without  which  there  can  be  no  eloquence. 
Other  things  can  be  added  to  these,  but  they  can  not  be  taken  from 
speech  and  eloquence  be  left.  He  was  student  enough  to  master 
his  subject;  he  filled  himself  with  it,  and  when  he  spoke  upon  it 
he  spoke  from  his  heart  to  the  hearts  of  those  who  listened.  To 
these  two  qualities  or  characteristics  he  added  a  third  most 
important  element  in  oratory,  and  that  was  clearness  of  statement. 
Few  men  have  lived  in  this  country  who  could  state  a  question 
more  clearly  than  he  could.  It  seems  contradictory  to  say  that 
there  are  certain  self-evident  truths.  I  not  only  endorse  that 
proposition,  but  I  will  go  further  and  say  that  all  truth  is  self- 
evident,  and  that  the  best  service  I  can  render  truth  is  to  state  it 
clearly,  for  a  truth  clearly  stated  needs  no  argument  in  its 
defense. 

Abraham  Lincoln  was  a  master  of  the  art  of  clear  and  lucid 
statement.  Illustration  is  a  powerful  form  of  argument.  An 
apt  illustration  is  one  of  the  most  convincing  things  that  can  be 
used.  If  we  know  that  a  thing  is  like  something  we  have  seen, 
we  can  understand  the  thing  that  we  have  not  seen.  And  he 
gathered  his  illustrations  from  the  life  of  the  people ;  therefore, 
when  he  spoke  to  the  people  he  could  make  his  subject  clear  and 
easily  understood.  He  understood  the  use  of  the  interrogatory, 
he  could  put  an  argument  in  a  question  ;  and  that  is  one  of  the 
arts  of  oratory.  Some  of  the  strongest  arguments  ever  presented 
in  speech  have  been  presented  in  the  form  of  a  question.  Christ 
gave  us  an  illustration  of  that:  "What  shall  it  profit  a  man 
if  he  gain  the  whole  world  and  lose  his  own  soul?"  How  many 
volumes  can  you  write  before  you  will  present  that  argument 
as  strongly  as  it  is  presented  in  that  question  ?  An  unanswerable 
argument  presented  in  a  question.  I  do  not  believe  we  have  any 
illustration  in  public  life  in  this  country  of  greater  power  of 

17 


statement,  or  clearer,  greater  force  in  questioning  than  that  pre- 
sented by  Abraham  Lincoln.  There  is  a  question  that  he  pre- 
sented in  one  of  his  messages,  and  if  the  country  had  not  been 
wrought  up,  if  passion  had  not  at  that  time  clouded  the  vision, 
if  the  blood  had  not  at  that  time  been  so  hot  that  calmness  was 
impossible,  the  question  that  he  put  must,  it  seems  to  me,  have 
carried  conviction  with  it.  You  will  remember  the  powerful  plea 
he  made :  ''What  if  we  do  have  war,  it  must  end  sometime ;  we 
must  live  here  side  by  side  in  peace — we  can  not  separate,  nature 
placed  us  so,"  and  then  the  question,  "Can  aliens  make  treaties 
easier  than  friends  can  make  laws  ?"  Where  will  you  find  an  argu- 
ment that  is  stronger  than  the  argument  carried  •in  that  simple 
question  ? 

But  he  was  more  than  a  great  orator,  he  was  a  great  states- 
man. Our  country  has  produced  jio  superior  to  him  as  an  execu- 
tive dealing  with  problems  as  a  practical  statesman,  with  a 
grasp  on  things  that  he  had.  Morse  defines  a  statesman  as  a  man 
who  foresees  and  foretells.  Lincoln  was  a  statesman ;  he  could 
foresee,  and  he  foretold.  Lincoln  understood  the  human  heart ; 
he  understood  the  American  people ;  he  understood  the  principles 
involved  in  the  great  contest ;  and  he  could  look  ahead  and  see. 
and  he  spoke  out.  It  is  said  that  when  he  was  preparing  that 
speech  that  was  the  first  in  his  national  career,  the  speech  at 
Springfield,  he  walked  the  floor  trying  to  find  some  expression 
that  would  bring  to  the  people  the  thought  that  was  in  his  own 
mind ;  and  at  last  he  said,  "I  have  found  it.  The  American  people 
are  a  Bible-reading  people,  and  a  Bible  quotation  will  not  only  be 
recognized  by  them,  but  it  will  have  more  influence  with  them 
than  anything  else  I  could  quote ;"  and  then  he  quoted  this :  "A 
house  divided  against  itself  shall  not  stand."  In  my  judgment  it 
is  the  most  effective  Bible  quotation  that  was  ever  used  in  the 
discussion  of  a  public  issue.  And  then,  going  beyond  the  strife, 
he  foresaw  the  time  when  the  house  would  cease  to  be  divided. 
Forty-two  years  ago  he  passed  from  earth  at  the  very  climax 
of  his  great  career.  How  happy  he  is  to-night  if  from  his  abode 
above  he  can  look  down  upon  this  country  and  see  his  prophecy 
fulfilled ;  the  house  no  longer  divided,  the  root  of  bitterness  taken 
away,  the  people  reunited,  a  nation  one  as  he  wanted  it  to  be.  He 
foresaw,  he  foretold. 

He  had  another  quality  of  statesmanship :  he  had  moral  cour- 
age. I  am  not  sure  but  moral  courage  is  a  finer  virtue  than  phy- 
sical courage ;  I  am  not  sure  but  it  is  more  difficult  for  a  person 
to  meet  great  opposition  that  does  not  endanger  the  body  than 
to  meet  the  opposition  that  imperils  the  body.  If  moral  cour- 
age is  not  more  difficult  to  exhibit  and  more  rare,  it  is  certainly 
an  indispensible  thing  for  a  statesman ;  and  Lincoln  had  it.  Lin- 
coln dared  to  stand  alone :  he  dared  to  speak  his  thoughts ;  he 

18 


dared  to  have  his  position ;  he  dared  to  submit  his  reasons  and 
abide  the  consequences.  He  had  passions — wonderful  passions. 
On  the  one  side  he  had  some  which  would  hold  him  back,  and 
on  the  other  some  which  would  push  him  faster  than  he  felt  he 
ought  to  go.  I  never  read  the  letter  he  wrote  to  Horace  Greeley 
without  feeling  that  my  admiration  for  Lincoln  rises  a  little  more. 
It  was  the  statement  of  the  man  who  saw  the  light  that  he  was  to 
follow,  who  was  determined  to  follow  it,  and  who  was  willing 
to  wait  and  suffer  any  kind  of  criticism  until  the  time  came  to 
act.  He  fitted  into  his  time;  we  needed  then  just  such  a  man. 

The  kindness  of  the  man !  Have  you  read  Markham's  poem 
"Abraham  Lincoln?"  Markham  has  about  a  dozen  lines  that 
contain  similes  that  I  think  have  not  been  surpassed  for  their 
beauty ;  and  the  one  that  I  like  best  of  them  all  was  that  in  which 
he  described  Lincoln  by  saying  that  he  had  the  loving  kindness  of 
the  wayside  well.  I  could  see  the  well  by  the  wayside  where  the 
traveler  passing  along  stopped  to  quench  his  thirst ;  the  well  that  . 
is  always  at  hand ;  the  well  that  is  friend  to  every  one.  I  do  not 
know  that  I  have  ever  read  a  phrase  that  better  describes  a  great, 
loving,  overflowing  heart  ^ian  that — the  loving  kindness  of  the 
wayside  well. 

He  fitted  into  his  time  because  he  was  great  enough  to  hate 
slavery  without  hating  slave-holders.    And  do  you  know  that  that 
is  one  of  the  God-like  things  to  which  man  should  aspire — to  hate 
wrong  and  love  the  wrongdoer?     To  recognize  honesty  on  the 
other  side  as  well  as  on  your  side,  and  let  your  fight  be  against 
wrong.  (Applause.)    My  friends,  I  do  not  know  of  another  man 
anywhere  who  was  his  equal  in  depth  and  breadth  of  view.  Born  in 
Kentucky  and  reared  in  Illinois,  he   seemed  to  have  been  pre- 
pared for  the  great  work  he  had  to  do.     He  loved  the  southern 
people,  but  his  heart  revolted  against  the  institution  of  slavery, 
He  wanted  to  get  rid  of  slavery  and  he  did  not  want  to  hurt  any- 
body who  differed  from  him  on  the  question.     A  great  man  in  a 
great  time !    But  there  were  two  sections  of  the  country,  and  they 
differed  upon  a  great  question,  and  there  was  honesty  on  both 
sides.     There  was  conscience  behind  the  gun  that  pointed  north 
and  conscience  behind  the  gun 'that  pointed  south.     (Applause.) 
These  people  met  questions  that  they  had  to  settle ;  these  people 
met  to  settle  the  questions  by  the  only  way  that  seemed  possible. 
A  difference  that  defied  a  peaceful  settlement.     There  were  some 
in  the  North  who  were  not  broad  enough  to  love  the  people  of 
the  South,  in  spite  of  the  institution  that  was  doomed ;  and  there 
were  those  in  the  South  not  broad  enough  to  love  the  people  in 
the  North  in  spite  of  their  opposition  to  slavery.     But  Lincoln 
was  large  enough    to    love    the   people.    North    and    South,    and 
only    hate    the    things    that    made    two    peoples    where    there 
ought    to    have    been    one    people.      (Applause.)       Lincoln    was 

19 


the  typical  American.  I  think  we  have  not  produced  a  man 
who  better  illustrated  the  possibilities  of  America.  I  believe  we 
have  not  produced  a  man  whose  life  gives  more  inspiration  to  the 
people  than  his  life  gives.  We  have  never  produced  a  man  whose 
career  was  better  proof  of  the  fact  that  man's  greatness  is  not  of 
himself  but  in  the  virtues  and  the  ideals  which  his  life  presents. 
Lincoln  grew,  not  because  he  was  a  great  orator,  although  that 
helped  his  growth ;  he  grew,  not  because  he  was  a  great  states- 
man, for  until  he  became  invested  with  power  he  had  not  had  an 
opportunity  to  prove  that  he  was  a  statesman,  and  his  reputation 
as  an  orator  was  far  greater  after  his  election  than  before,  for 
few  of  the  people  of  this  country  had  a  chance  to  know  him  well 
until  he  became  President.  He  attached  himself  to  an  idea  and 
he  rose  with  that  idea.  To  every  young  man  Lincoln's  life 
ought  to  be  an  inspiration,  for  Lincoln's  life  teaches  that 
the  man  who  takes  hold  of  a  great  idea  and  forgets  himself 
in  his  devotion  to  it  will  gather  strength  as  the  idea  grows,  and 
rise  as  the  idea  rises.  (Applause.)  Lincoln's  life  has  well  illus- 
trated that.  Lincoln's  power  was  more  of  a  heart  power.  I  be- 
lieve, judged  by  intellectual  standards^  that  he  is  inferior  to  none. 
I  do  not  mean  by  educational  standards,  because  he  lacked  edu- 
cation, but  by  intellectual  standards.  Measured  by  mind,  meas- 
ured by  power  to  comprehend,  measured  by  accuracy  of  judg- 
ment, measured  by  aptness  of  expression,  he  was  inferior  to  none. 
But  he  was  greater  in  his  heart  than  he  was  in  his  head,  and 
he  proved  that  which  has  been  demonstrated  so  often  before,  that 
while  we  brag  about  the  head  we  after  all  respect  the  heart.  Car- 
lisle, in  the  closing  words  of  his  "French  Revolution,"  presents 
a  very  important  thought.  He  says  that  thought  is  stronger  than 
artillery  and  moulds  the  world  like  soft  clay,  and  that  back  of 
thought  is  love  and  that  there  never  was  a  great  head  unless 
there  was  a  genuine  heart  behind  it.  (Applause.)  Lincoln's 
heart  took  in  the  world.  Lincoln's  heart  linked  him  to  the  com- 
mon people.  Lincoln  once  said  that  God  must  have  loved  the 
common  people,  because  he  made  so  many  of  them.  It  was  his 
way  of  expressing  it,  but  Lincoln  never  used  the  phrase  "com- 
mon people"  as  a  term  of  reproach,  for  the  highest  compliment 
ever  paid  any  class  of  people  was  paid  to  the  common  people.  In 
the  Bible  it  says  that  when  Christ  presented  the  doctrine  of  Chris- 
tianity the  common  people  heard  him  gladly.  It  is  a  great  com- 
pliment. Lincoln  believed  in  the  common  people.  Lincoln  trusted 
the  common  people.  Lincoln  felt  that  the  common  people  in  this 
country  were  the  nation's  strength.  They  were  then ;  they  are 
now  ;  they  ever  will  be.  The  common  people  produce  the  nation's 
wealth  in  times  of  peace :  they  fight  the  nation's  battles  in  times 
of  war.  The  volunteer  soldier,  of  whom  we  have  heard  so  elo- 
quently to-night,  is  the  common  man.  The  common  people  work 

20 


when  the  country  needs  workers ;  they  fight  when  the  country 
needs  fighters.  They  make  the  laws,  they  enforce  the  laws;  and 
because  they  must  enforce  the  laws,  if  necessary,  they  are  careful 
when  they  make  them.  The  common  people  were  the  people 
whom  Lincoln  looked  up  to.  They  were  the  people  with  whom  he 
identified  himself.  He  had  struggled  in  their  ranks  and  he  knew 
their  strength,  and  he  knew  that  they  would  not  fail  in  any  crisis. 
Lincoln  had  faith ;  he  was  a  man  of  faith.  His  name  was  Abra- 
ham Lincoln,  and  it  was  Abraham  who  gave  us  that  first  example 
of  great  faith,  who,  at  the  call  of  the  Almighty,  went  out  a  thou- 
sand miles  from  home,  among  a  strange  people,  to  establish  a 
new  religion.  Wonderful  faith  it  was.  And  from  that  faith 
there  grew  one  of  the  greatest  races  of  the  world ;  and  from  that 
faith  that  he  established  there  grew  a  religion  until  nearly  four 
hundred  million  human  beings  worship  the  one  God  at  whose  call 
Abraham  went  forth.  Faith  is  the  power  influencing  all  of  our 
lives.  Faith  leads  us  to  do  and  dare.  And  Lincoln  had  faith 
in  himself.  He  believed  that  he  could  do  things.  He  understood 
that  which  he  believed  he  could  accomplish—he  was  able  to  ac- 
complish. He  had  faith  in  humanity,  and  that  is  an  important 
faith.  He  believed  in  mankind ;  he  knew  the  human  heart,  and  he 
knew  that  when  he  came  to  the  heart  he  found  that  all  were  much 
alike. 

My  friends,  it  is  at  the  heart  that  we  all  meet.  Travel  in  different 
lands  and  you  will  find  people  speaking  different  languages ;  you 
will  find  different  traditions  and  race  characteristics  and  differences 
in  history ;  you  will  find  differences  in  forms  of  government ;  you 
win  find  differences  in  church  worship ;  but  when  you  find  the 
heart  you  will  find  that  mankind  is  much  the  same  everywhere, 
and  that  if  you  would  reach  people,  instead  of  directing  all  your 
arguments  at  the  head,  you  have  to  direct  your  arguments  at  the 
heart.  It  is  out  of  the  heart  that  the  purpose  comes.  It  is  the 
heart  that  directs  the  life,  and  from  the  heart  comes  the  ideals 
and  moral  virtues  upon  which  civilization  rests.  Buckle  describes 
civilization  as  a  state  of  the  human  mind,  the  principal  element 
of  which  is  the  moral  element.  I  would  ask  to  differ  with  him. 
The  moral  element  is  essential  to  civilization,  and  the  nations  that 
have  gone  down  have  gone  down  because  they  were  rotten  at  the 
heart.  (Applause.)  The  heart,  the  heart  is  that  upon  which  we 
must  build,  and  Lincoln  had  faith  in  mankind  because  he  knew 
that  in  the  heart  of  every  man  was  a  sense  of  justice  to  which 
an  appeal  could  be  made.  He  had  faith  in  the  government.  He 
believed  in  our  theory  of  government.  He  took  as  his  great  in- 
structor the  author  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  and  in 
his  speeches  and  in  his  letters  he  spoke  as  eloquently  of  the  wis- 
dom of  Thomas  Jefferson  as  any  man  has  ever  spoken.  (Ap- 
plause.) He  believed  that  our  form  of  government  would  live: 

21 


he  believed  that  it  would  spread.  It  has  lived,  and  it  is  spreading. 
A  century  and  a  quarter  ago  and  a  little  more  certain  ideas  of 
government  were  planted  on  this  soil.  They  have  grown  here. 
Our  nation  did  not  make  these  ideas  great;  the  ideas  made  our 
nation  great.  Our  nation's  position  to-day  is  due  more  than  to 
any  other  thing  to  the  fact  that  these  ideas  have  emanated  from 
this  country.  They  have  girdled  the  globe.  The  light  that  was 
shining  here  has  sent  out  its  rays  to  every  land,  and  in  all  the  years 
our  influence  in  the  world  has  been  a  high  and  holy  one.  'For 
more  than  a  century  our  nation  has  been  a  world  power.  Not 
only  that — for  more  than  a  century  our  nation  has  been  the  great 
power  in  the  world.  (Applause.)  Other  nations  had  their 
thrones  and  their  armies  and  their  ships,  and  yet  our  nation  with 
its  little  army  and  its  little  navy  has  been  strong  enough  to  force 
its  ideas,  throughout  the  world,  on  all  countries.  Have  you  no- 
ticed the  growth  of  its  ideas  in  the  last  two  years?  Within  two 
years  the  Empress  Dowager  of  China  has  sent  envoys  through- 
out the  world  to  gather  information  for  the  adoption  of  a  consti- 
tution. Within  two.  years  Austria  has  enlarged  the  basis  of  her 
representation  in  the  Reichsrath.  Within  a  year  the  gov- 
ernment has  given  its  influence  to  the  enlargement  of  the  basis  of 
representation  in  the  popular  branch  of  the  legislature.  In  Eng- 
land now  the  great  political  question  is  between  the  House  of 
Commons  and  the  House  of  Lords :  Shall  the  people  rule  through 
their  elected  representatives,  or  shall  electorial  power  "put  down" 
the  people's  power?  And  look  at  Russia,  who  until  recently, 
has  been  a  synonym  for  despotism.  Our  blood  has  boiled 
as  we  have  read  of  people  dragged  from  their  homes  and  Im- 
prisoned or  executed,  and,  after  a  while  the  people  by  infinite 
suffering  and  sacrifice,  secured  the  privilege  of  a  douma,  and 
when  an  election  was  held  and  they  had  a  chance  to  express  them- 
selves they  took  advantage  of  it.  In  St.  Petersburg  60,000  votes 
were  cast,  and  58,000  were  cast  against  the  Czar's  ticket,  2,000 
for  his  ticket.  In  his  voting  precinct  300  voters  were  sent  to  the 
polls  in  guarded  carriages.  Eighty  of  them  voted  for  him  and  220 
voted  for  the  opposition.  And  when  the  douma  convened  they 
did  not  indorse  parties — they  were  all  reformers,  differing  only 
in  the  degree  of  their  radicalism.  The  Czar  dissolved  the  douma 
and  held  a  new  election.  The  new  douma  .is  more  radical  than 
the  old  one.  It  was  my  good  fortune  to  see  the  first  douma  in 
session.  I  believe  no  more  remarkable  body  of  men  has  assem- 
bled in  this  world  for  many  years,  and  as  they  sat  there  you  could 
read  in  their  faces  the  history  of  a  nation's  suffering,  and  a  grim 
determination  that  Russia's  wrongs  should  be  righted.  The  new 
douma  is  in  session ;  the  people  have  spoken  again,  and  the  Czar 
announces  through  his  premier  that  the  government  will  approve 
the  people's  measures  providing  for  free  speech,  and  free  press, 


22 


and  uniform  education.  Thus  is  Russia  moving  forward.  Thus 
is  the  voice  of  the  people  being  heard.  Thus  are  the  ideas  for 
which  Lincoln  contended  spreading  throughout  the  world,  and 
when  Russia  enjoys  these  reforms  to  which  she  is  entitled,  and 
for  which  she  has  struggled,  she  will  take  her  place  among  the 
great  nations  of  the  world,  for  people  who  are  willing  to  die  for 
liberty  have  in  them  the  material  of  which  great  nations  are  made. 
There  are  three  kinds  of  governments :  Monarchy,  aristocracy, 
and  democracy.  I  dissent  from  two-thirds  of  them.  (Laughter.) 
Lincoln  was  right  when  he  contended  for  a  government  of  the 
people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  people.  Neither  the  monarchy 
nor  the  aristocracy  is  among  the  strongest  of  governments.  A 
republic  is  not  only  the  strongest  and  wisest,  but  the  most  secure 
of  governments.  Why  is  our  government  stronger?  Because 
the  people  are  willing  to  defend  it.  Our  government  is  stronger 
because  the  people  love  it,  and  they  love  it  because  it  is  good,  and 
it  is  good  because  the  people  speak,  and  their  voice  is  loud.  (Ap- 
plause.) My  friends,  it  needs  not  that  we  should  praise  Abraham 
Lincoln,  his  fame  is  secure.  Nothing  that  we  could  say  would  re- 
duce his  station.  Fixed  is  his  star  in  the  firmament,  and  rising 
higher  and  higher.  It  will  be  seen  by  increasing  millions,  and 
wherever  seen  it  will  represent  that  which  is  highest  and  noblest 
and  best  in  the  life  of  a  government  like  ours.  Lincoln  delivered 
an  oration  that  has  no  equal  in  the  same  number  of  words  in  this 
language.  The  speech  that  he  made  at  the  battlefield  of  Gettys- 
burg, for  the  size  of  it  and  the  length  of  it,  has  never  been  ap- 
proached by  any  human  being.  If  he  had  never  made  any  other 
speech,  his  fame  as  an  orator  might  have  rested  on  that.  And  in 
that  speech,  great  because  of  its  simplicity,  far-reaching  because 
of  its  depth,  he  said  that  they  had  not  met  there  to  hallow  that 
ground,  that  those  who  had  fallen  there  had  hallowed  it ;  that  they 
were  there,  not  to  consecrate  it,  but  to  consecrate  themselves  to  the 
unfinished  work  which  they  who  fell  there  had  so  well  advanced, 
that  it  was  rather  for  those  who  had  assembled  there  to  dedi- 
cate themselves,  to  consecrate  themselves,  to  that  unfinished  work 
that  a  government  of  the  people,  by  the  people,  and  for  the  peo- 
ple should  not  perish  from  the  earth.  And  so  we  are  met  here 
to-night,  not  that  any  feeble  words  of  ours  can  bring  peace  to  one 
who  sleeps,  not  that  any  flowers  of  rhetoric  can  be  added  to  the 
flowers  that  have  been  piled  upon  his  tomb,  but  rather  that  in  the 
spirit  which  he  manifested  we  shall  dedicate  ourselves  to  that 
\vork'  which  was  so  dear  to  him.  He  could  look  beyond  the  strife 
and  the  turmoil  and  see  a  united  people ;  we  now  realize  the  ful- 
fillment of  his  dream  and  of  his  vision.  And  as  we  meet  on  this 
anniversary,  forty-two  years  after  his  death,  when  we  can  see  the 
completed  work  which  he  began,  but  was  not  permitted  to  see  en- 
tirely rounded  out,  we  can  understand,  even  better  than  those  who 

23 


lived  then,  the  priceless  value  of  his  service  and  the  greatness  of 
the  work  which  he  left  to  us  that  follow  him. 

I  come  here  to-night  to  vie  with  the  soldiers  in  their  homage 
to  the  great,  dead  President,  to  mingle  my  words  with  their's,  and 
to  have  my  heart  beat  as  their  hearts  beat  in  sympathy  with  his 
aspirations  and  his  hopes.  I  come  to  join  with  you,  with  all  of 
you,  as  he  would  have  us  join,  in  the  resolution  that  this  nation 
shall  be  what  he  and  the  others  who  toiled  for  it  hoped  and  de- 
sired and  expected  that  it  would  be.  Mr.  Thurston  has  spoken  of 
the  effect  of  the  Spanish  war  in  bringing  together  people  who  had 
once  been  fighting  each  other.  I  was  where  I  could  realize  some- 
thing of  the  seaming  process,  for  short  as  was  my  service  it  was 
sufficient  to  enable  me  to  testify  from  what  I  saw  and  heard  that 
the  rivalry  in  the  Spanish  war  between  the  sons  of  those  who 
wore  the  blue  and  the  sons  of  those  who  wore  the  gray  was  to 
see  who  could  show  the  greatest  devotion  and  the  highest  loyalty 
to  the  flag  which  they  both  loved.  (Applause.)  But  of  all  these 
regiments,  gathered  from  the  northland  and  the  southland,  I 
heard  them  playing  the  sectional  airs,  and  then  I  heard  them  join 
in  the  national  hymns,  and  I  felt  that  indeed  our  people  were  one 
— no  north,  no  south,  no  east,  no  west,  a  larger  family  our  coun- 
try is  to-day.  The  glory  of  our  Civil  War  was  not  that  one  side 
whipped  the  other ;  it  was  that  victors  held  the  vanquished  in  such 
close  embrace  that  they  soon  became  good  friends,  and  one  na- 
tion now  leads  the  world  in  all  that  goes  to  make  up  the  greatness 
of  a  nation.  If  I  ever  doubted  the  superiority  of  my  nation,  I 
would  not  doubt  it  after  having  a  chance  to  compare  it  with  other 
nations.  We  complain  of  our  money  worshippers,  and  with  rea- 
son, but  my  friends,  there,  is  more  altruism  in  the  United  States 
than  there  is  in  any  other  nation  on  earth  to-day,  and  our  nation 
is  doing  more  in  a  disinterested  way  than  any  other  nation  that 
lives  or  has  lived.  Our  nation  to-day  is  giving  the  world  ideals, 
and  the  ideal  is  the  most  important  thing.  Our  nation  to-day  is 
setting  the  example,  and  that  example  is  having  its  influence 
around  the  world.  Our  nation  is  a  peaceful  nation.  These  soldiers 
who  bared  their  breasts  to  the  enemy's  fire  were  lovers  of  peace, 
not  professional  soldiers,  and  when  the  war  was  over  they  went 
back  to  their  occupations.  And  to-day  there  are  no  stronger  forces 
for  peace  in  this  world  than  those  who  bore  the  musket  when  their 
country  called  them.  These  people  in  this  country  who,  when  the 
necessity  arose,  were  willing  to  fight,  these  are  the  champions  of 
peace,  and  these  understand  that  a  nation's  position  is  to  be 
demonstrated  not  by  the  force  it  exerts  on  other  nations,  but  by 
the  good  we  can  do  other  nations.  Our  greatness  is  not  measured 
by  our  army  or  our  navy,  but  by  our  ideals.  Our  greatest  prod- 
ucts are  not  the  products  of  the  farm  or  factory,  but  minds  and 
bodies  developed  according  to  high  ideals,  and  our  greatest  fac- 

24 


tories  are  not  our  factories  with  their  towering  smokestacks,  but 
our  schools  and  colleges  and  churches  that  take  in  raw  material 
and  turn  out  such  a  finished  product  as  the  world  has  never 
known  before.  (Applause.)  This  nation,  with  its  government 
of  the  people,  for  the  people,  and  by  the  people  is  destined  to  im- 
press the  world  as  no  other  nation  has  impressed  it,  not  by  force 
or  violence,  but  by  developing  here  the  highest  civilization  ever 
known,  and  our  nation's  rise  through  this  development  will  in- 
fluence every  other  nation  by  the  power  of  a  noble  example. 
I  thank  you.  (Great  applause.) 


[From  the  Evening  Star,  Monday,  April  15,  1907  ] 

Bryan  Greeted  by  Large  Crowd 


ELOQUENT  NEBRASKAN  PAYS  TRIBUTE  TO  LIFE 
AND  CHARACTER  OF  PRESIDENT  LINCOLN 


GENERAL   BLACK    PRESIDES 


Exercises  Under  Auspices  of  Union  Veteran  Legion  at  the  Co- 
lumbia Theater — Mr.  Bryan's  Address  in  Afternoon  before 
the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  at  National  Theater. 


Mr.  William  Jennings  Bryan  arrived  in  the  city  yesterday  and 
was  accorded  an  extremely  warm  reception  on  the  part  of  citizens 
without  regard  to  political  affiliations.  He  came  to  meet  two  en- 
gagements to  deliver  addresses,  neither  of  which  was  in  any  way 
related  to  partizanship,  and  he  declined  to  say  anything  during  the 
day  that  might  be  interpreted  as  introducing  politics  into  the 
occasion. 

Mr.  Bryan  spoke  at  night  at  the  Columbia  Theater  on  the 
life  of  Lincoln.  He  paid  a  glowing  and  eloquent  tribute  to  the 
martyred  President,  and  his  powers  of  oratory  were  never  dis- 
played with  greater  force  than  on  that  occasion.  During  the  after- 
noon he  addressed  a  meeting  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  at  the  National 
Theater,  his  subject  then  being  "The  Prince  of  Peace."  An  ar- 
rangement had  been  made  by  which  he  was  to  address  the  Sun- 
day-school of  the  First  Presbyterian  Church,  but  owing  to  the 
fact  that  he  was  late  in  arriving  in  the  city  he  was  prevented  from 
filling  that  engagement. 


27 


When  Mr.  Bryan  arrived  at  the  Pennsylvania  depot  he  was 
met  by  several  committees  and  by  a  very  large  number  of  people. 
He  was  escorted  to  the  Metropolitan  Hotel  and  later  to  the  resi- 
dence of  Mr.  Robert  N.  Harper,  where  he  was  entertained  at 
luncheon.  The  luncheon  began  at  one  o'clock  and  lasted  until  time 
for  Mr.  Bryan  to  repair  to  the  National  to  address  the  gathering 
there  under  the  auspices  of  the  Y.  M.  C.  A.  Those  present  at 
the  luncheon,  besides  host  and  guest  of  honor,  were  Dr.  Donald 
C.  MacLeod,  Gen.  John  M.  Wilson,  R.  Walton  Moore,  of  Fair- 
fax, Va. ;  Commissioner  West,  Blair  Lee,  A.  E.  O.  Leckie,  Judge 
Seth  Shepard,  William  H.  Saunders,  B.  S.  Minor,  and  Scott  C. 
Bone. 

Among  those  in  the  committee  that  met  Mr.  Bryan  at  the 
train  and  escorted  him  to  his  rooms  were :  J.  F.  Miller,  C.  T. 
Bride,  C.  L.  Du  Bois,  A.  E.  L.  Leckie,  W.  J.  Dwyer,  George  S. 
Benson,  Edwin  A.  Newman,  John  Boyle,  George  Drury,.  Benja- 
min Davis,  George  Killeen,  S.  S.  Yoder,  P.  T.  Moran,  Patrick 
Hartigan,  J.  H.  Brinkman,  F.  S.  Correll,  John  Costello,  H.  H. 
Brower,  Oliver  Shaw,  O.  P.  Hallam,  T.  R.  Sparks,  and  Edward 
Sefton. 

Those  on  the  stage  were:  Gen.  Robert  Shaw  Oliver,  Act- 
ing Secretary  of  War;  Maj.  Gen.  Franklin  J.  Bell,  Chief  of  Staff, 
United  States  Army ;  Gen.  John  M.  Wilson,  United  States  Army, 
president  Board  of  Trade ;  Mr.  Henry  B.  F.  Macfarland,  Commis- 
sioner of. the  District  of  Columbia;  Mr.  D.  W.  Baker,  United 
States  District  Attorney ;  Mr.  Charles  H.  Treat,  Treasurer  of  the 
United  States ;  Mr.  William  E.  Andrews,  Auditor  of  the  Treas- 
ury Department;  Mr.  Hilary  A.  Herbert,  Marion  Butler,  Mr. 
Truman  Newberry,  Assistant  Secretary  of  the  Navy ;  Mr.  Gifford 
Pinchot,  Chief  of  Forestry,  Agricultural  Department ;  Mr.  John 
W.  Gaines,  Member  of  Congress ;  Mr.  Samuel  S.  Smith,  Member 
of  Congress ;  Mr.  Vespasian  Warner,  Commissioner  of  Pensions ; 
Col.  F.  T.  F.  Johnson,  Mrs.  Ellen  Spenser  Mussey,  Mrs.  Allyn  K. 
Capron,  Capt.  Nathan  Bickford,  Maj.  Richard  Sylvester,  Chief  oi 
Police;  Gen.  H.  G.  Worthington,  the  only  surviving  pallbearer 
at  Lincoln's  funeral ;  Judge  D.  A.  Grimsley,  Willis  J.  Abbott,  Mr. 
Seth  Shepard,  Chief  Justice  Court  of  Appeals  of  the  District  of 
Columbia;  Mr.  Louis  F.  McComas,  Associate  Justice  Court  of 
Appeals  of  the  District  of  Columbia;  Mr.  Harry  M.  Clabaugh, 
Chief  Justice  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia ;  Messrs. 
Job  Barnard,  Ashley  M.  Gould,  and  Wendell  P.  Stafford,  Asso- 
ciate Justices  Supreme  Court  of  the  District  of  Columbia ;  Col. 
Charles  Lyman,  chief  appointment  division,  Treasury  Department ; 
A.  E.  L.  Leckie,  James  B.  McLaughlin,  Capt.  O.  H.  Oldroyd,  J. 
G.  McClery,  Commander  Newton  Ferree  and  staff  of  the  G.  A.  R. ; 
Ezra  Gould,  president  of  the  Washington  Mechanics'  Savings 

28 


Bank ;  Mr.  P.  A.  Drury,  president  National  City  Bank ;  Mr.  W. 
L.  Chambers,  Spanish  Treaty  Claims  Commission;  Mrs.  Ralph 
Walsh,  president  United  Daughters  of  Confederacy ;  Mrs.  Rosalie 
H.  Bocock,  corresponding  secretary  Daughters  of  Confederacy; 
Mrs.  Drury  C.  Ludlow,  Mr.  Charles  A.  Douglas,  attorney;  Mr. 
F.  W.  Huidekoper,  president  Sons  of  Revolution ;  Mr.  Blair  Lee, 
Mrs.  John  M.  Thurston,  and  Mr.  J.  McDowell  Carrington,  presi- 
dent Confederate  Veteran  Association. 

GREETED   BY   LARGE   AUDIENCE 

The  evening  meeting  at  the  Columbia  Theater  was  attended 
by  an  enormous  audience.  The  occasion  was  the  forty-second  an- 
niversary of  the  death  of  Lincoln,  and  the  meeting  was  under  the 
auspices  of  the  Union  Veteran  Legion  Encampment,  No.  HI. 
Mr.  Bryan  was  escorted  to  the  platform  upon  his  arrival  by  a 
committee  consisting  of  Mr.  George  S.  Benson,  chairman ;  Mr. 
Horace  H.  Brower,  secretary;  Mr.  Oliver  P.  Hallam,  Mr.  Oliver 
Shaw,  Mr.  Fred  R.  Sparks. 

The  invocation  was  by  Rev.  H.  N.  Couden,  chaplain  of  the 
House  of  Representatives.  Col.  F.  H.  Hartley,  commanding  En- 
campment, No.  HI,  U.  V.  L.,  introduced  Gen.  John  C.  Black, 
past  commander-in-chief  of  the  G.  A.  R.,  who  acted  as  perma- 
nent chairman. 

"It  is  most  appropriate,"  said  Gen.  Black,  "that  a  statesman 
should  speak  of  Lincoln,  and  most  fitting  that  tributes  to  Lincoln 
should  be  spoken  by  an  orator  who  has  stirred  the  human  pulse 
by  his  eloquence." 

The  Thirteenth  United  States  Cavalry  Band  was  on  hand,  and 
rendered  a  patriotic  medley.  Col.  John  Tweedale,  United  States 
Army,  entertained  the  company  by  a  short  reading,  as  did  Prof. 
Jasper  Dean  McFall  and  Miss  McFall  by  a  song.  Former  Senator 
John  M.  Thurston  spoke  briefly  of  the  "Volunteer  Soldier."  Mr. 
Thurston  paid  a  glowing  tribute  to  that  gradually  disappearing 
army,  now  represented  by  men  who  wear  the  Union  button.'  Vic- 
tory for  the  Union  cause,  he  said,  in  those  dark  days  of  the  repub- 
lic, was  foreshadowed  by  the  hand  of  Providence. 

ELICITS   GREAT   APPLAUSE 

Mr.  Bryan  was  then  introduced  and  was  received  by  an  out- 
burst of  applause.  Raising  his  right  hand  in  the  manner  so  familiar 
to  those  who  have  seen  him  sway  many  public  gatherings  during  his 
two  campaigns,  the  applause  came  to  a  sudden  stop,  and  Mr.  Bryan 
began  the  delivery  of  an  address  that  was  pronounced  by  men  who 
knew  him  at  various  times  during  his  career  as  one  of  the  most 

29 


finished  oratorical  efforts  of  his  life.  Those  who  had  not  seen 
Mr.  Bryan  in  a  long  time,  and  most  of  the  audience  was  of  that 
class,  marked  but  slight  changes  in  his  appearance.  The  same 
vigor  that  characterized  him  when  he  delivered  that  commanding 
speech  which  swayed  the  National  Democratic  Convention  in 
1896,  and  gave  him  the  nomination  for  the  Presidency,  was  evi- 
denced in  his  manner  and  words.  There  was,  perhaps,  a  little 
more  of  pose  and  deliberation,  but  no  one  who  heard  him  sug- 
gested that  he  had  lost  anything  of  the  wonderful  powers  of  ora- 
tory for  which  he  is  so  well  known.  He  is  but  slightly  older  in 
appearance,  but  retains  that  same  smile  which  was  ever  present 
with  him  at  moments  when  political  victory  seemed  within  his 
reach  and  when  de'feat  was  announced  when  the  election  was  over. 

At  the  conclusion  of  Mr.  Bryan's  address  he  shook  hands 
with  a  large  number  of  people  who  crowded  to  the  stage.  Mr. 
Bryan  left  on  the  midnight  train  for  New  York. 

The  committee  having  charge  of  the  preliminaries  for  the 
memorial  services  was  headed  by  G.  S.  Benson.  Through  Mr. 
Benson's  efforts  the  services  of  Mr.  Bryan  were  procured. 


[From  the  Washington  Times,  Monday,  April  15,  1907  ] 

Throngs    Hear  Bryan    Speak    upon 
Lincoln  and  Prince  of  Peace 


PARTISAN   POLITICS  ENTIRELY  ABSENT  FROM 
ORATOR'S  TWO  ADDRESSES 


PEERLESS  LEADER     IS  GREETED  WITH  GREAT  ENTHUSIASM 


Washington  lay  under  the  spell  of  William  Jennings  Bryan's 
witchery  of  words  yesterday. 

He  came  at  noon  and  left  at  midnight.  He  addressed  two 
immense  crowds — one  in  the  National  Theater  at  the  Y.  M.  C.  A. 
men's  meeting,  in  the  afternoon,  and  the  other  in  the  Columbia 
Theater,  at  the  Lincoln  Memorial  meeting,  under  the  auspices  of 
Encampment  No.  in,  Union  Veteran  Legion,  in  the  evening. 

At  both  meetings  he  was  heard  by  capacity  audiences,  audi- 
tors standing  in  every  available  foot  of  space,  and  at  both  places 
he  was  literally  mobbed  by  his  admirers,  who  crowded  around 
him,  detaining  him  that  they  might  shake  hands  with  him.  He  is 
balder,  older-looking,  and  more  fleshy  than  when  he  was  in  Wash- 
ington as  a  member  of  Congress.  Biit  he  proved  himself  as  capa- 
ble as  ever  of  going  through  with  a  strenuous  day  and  ending  it 
with  a  smile. 

TEMPESTS  OF  APPLAUSE 

His  train  from  Charlottesville  was  late  and  he  reached  this 
city  not  until  noon.  An  informal  reception  at  the  Metropolitan 
Hotel  was  followed  by  a  luncheon  at  the  home  of  Robert  N.  Har- 
per. He  was  then  driven  to  the  National  Theater,  where  he  de- 


livered  his  famous  lecture  on  the  "Prince  of  Peace."  After  a  din- 
ner at  the  residence  of  Cotter  Bride,  Mr.  Bryan  spoke  at  the  Co- 
lumbia Theater.  He  then  took  the  train  for  New  York. 

At  every  turn  the  famous  Nebraskan  was  met  with  glad 
smiles.  Each  audience,  when  he  arose  to  address  it,  broke  into 
such  a  tempest  of  applause  that  he  had  to  raise  his  hand  again  and 
again  to  still  the  tumult.  He  demonstrated  by  his  visit  that  there 
are  thousands  here  who  love  him. 

Of  politics  Mr.  Bryan  said  not  a  word.  His  addresses  were 
Sunday  orations,  and  the  words  that  fell  from  his  lips  gave  no 
hint  that  the  speaker  was  one  of  the  best  known  politicians  in  the 
United  States,  except  when  he  touched  upon^asic  questions  of 
world  statesmanship.  There  was  no  breath  of  partisanship. 

At  the  Columbia  Theater  last  night  he  stood  on  a  stage 
draped  with  big  star-spangled  banners.  On  the  platform  with 
him  were  many  of  this  city's  most  prominent  men.  He  spoke  of 
Lincoln,  praising  him  as  an  orator,  a  statesman,  and  a  lover  of 
all  men. 


UNIVERSITY  OF  ILLINOIS-URBANA 

973.7L63GB84M  C001 

MASTERFUL  TRIBUTES  TO  THE  MEMORY  OF  PRES 


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